The Chinese Cemetery of Nolettes

On June 1st, 2013, I visited the Chinese Cemetery of Nolettes on the Somme River. 849 Chinese men who died during World War I or right after it are buried in this beautiful place. 

 

Their simple gravestones are engraved with Chinese as well as English characters.

Most of these men who died so far from home where probably Buddhist and it is unlikely that any Buddhist words were ever spoken on their behalf. 

I lit some incense I had brought with me, and I sat in Zazen under the main cypress tree during the time it took for one stick to burn. 

After that I walked each row of gravestones reciting the heart sutra for them. 

Then I bowed and left. 

 

Here is the story of men buried there almost totally forgotten for over 80 years...

In 1916, France and Britain started to recruit Chinese labourers to fill the manpower shortage caused by World War I. Approximately 140,000 Chinese workers - about 100,000 with the Brits and 40,000 with the French - served on the Western Front during and right after the War.

At the end of the war about 5,000 to 10,000 of them stayed in France and formed the original nucleus of the Chinese community in Paris.

Mainly aged between 20 and 35, these men did not take part to actual combat. They were supporting the frontline troops, unloading ships, building dugouts, repairing roads and railways, digging trenches and filling sandbags. Some worked in armaments factories, others in shipyards. However, when the war ended some were used for mine clearance, or to recover the bodies of soldiers and fill in miles of trenches.

According to the records around 2,000 of them died during the war, most from the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu pandemic, and some as a direct result of enemy action or of wounds received in the course of their duties.

Those who died, classified as war casualties, were buried in several French and Belgian graveyards in the North of France. The largest number of graves is located at the Chinese Cemetery of Noyelles sur Mer close to the Somme river's estuary, where 849 men are buried.

The contribution of these men went forgotten for decades until military ceremonies resumed in 2002.

Huineng and the Rice Sieve.

In the first chapter of the Platform Sutra, Zen's 6th Patriarch Huineng tells the story of his life.

After a first episode of enlightenment in his native Kwangtung, Huineng travels far from home to meet the 5th Patriarch Hongren.  At his arrival at the Monastery, Hongren asks him a few questions, realizes he was pretty sharp, and sends him to work in the kitchens. 

After several month spent  pounding rice, Huineng - who can neither write or read - enters a sort of spiritual poetry contest in which also compete the smartest monk of the place. 

He asks one of his colleagues from the kitchen to write his Stanza for him on one wall of the Monastery. 

Impressed by what he read, but not willing to let anyone know about it, Hongren does not say much. Instead, one evening, he goes to the room where Huineng is pounding rice.

Huineng goes on:

 

Seeing that I was working there with a stone pestle, he said to me, "A seeker of the Path risks his life for the Dharma. Should he not do so? " Then he asked, "Is the rice ready? " "Ready long ago, " I replied, "only waiting for the sieve. " He knocked the mortar thrice with his stick and left. 

Knowing what his message meant, in the third watch of the night I went to his room..."

Now, what is this "sieve" business here ? Honestly ? Can you figure this out? This does not seem to add anything to the story. But, Zen Masters are not known to act without reason.  Huineng could simply tell us that Hongren asked him to come see him later that night. But No! He insists on this sieve story, so there must be something to it that we don't get, and is worth investigating...

I researched Rice agriculture and processing, and learned quite a bit on the subject and its relation to Kobudo - I'll post about that later - but it did not help my understanding of this part of the Platform Sutra. The only relevant fact out of this research is that yes, lots of sieves are used at different stages of rice processing.

Actually, I found the explanation when and where I was not looking for it (is that familiar or what???) in a book by Nan Huai Chin : the Story of Chinese Zen. 

It was not to be found in technical details of Rice production, cultivation or preparation, but is of linguistic nature. It is simply that in Ancient Chinese, "The word for "sifting" has the same sound as the word "teacher" ..."

 Now this is what Nan Huai Chin says, and I won't argue with him for my knowledge of Chinese is to say the least, extremely limited, even more so of Antique Cantonese...

So you see, sometimes things are much simpler thatn you think they might be. Providing you know the language...

In a later post I'll tell you about what I found about Rice Agriculture and it's influence on Kobudo (classical weapon traditions of Okinawan martial arts)